Robert Stack

Tom McGrath has discovered that kids believe Skipper, the tough, no-nonsense penguin he first voiced in the 2005 animated hit "Madagascar," is real.

"That is the curse of being a voice," said McGrath, who reprises the bird with a penchant for Cheezy Dibbles in the 3-D animated comedy "Penguins of Madagascar," which opens Nov. 26.

When he's performed the voice of Skipper for kids, said McGrath, "they get really scared. It's like a theme park character taking off their costume head. It breaks the fantasy. So I have to go behind a door and do it!"

The soft-spoken, personable McGrath, 50, was never supposed to play Skipper. He's not...

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